Pages

Friday, September 11, 2009

Time to try Single Payer

"First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you, then you win." -- Mahatma Gandhi

A vast majority of rank and file Democrats support single-payer legislation. Also significant percentages of Indys and Republicans support it as well. Obama said he supported single-payer back in 2003. A few years later he said that he still supported it, but that Democrats would have to take back congress and the White House for it to happen. But now that Dems control the government, he said that it would be too much of a radical change, and he wants a "uniquely American solution." What happened? It's not like he even tried to pass single-payer, in fact he constantly ignored and censored single-payer activists. What can regular citizens do when their elected leaders in government lie and betray them? Organize. Look, I know it sucks that Obama is not going to be helping us in this fight. I worked for him in 08 too, but we need to recognize that Washington is too saturated with corporate money for anything meaningful to happen. So, we need to get on the ground in every state and push for the policy that we know will work best--single-payer. Canada started with single-payer at a state level, and there is no reason that we cant do the same. Organizing for Congress's "health-insurance reform" is an embarrassment and might even be counter-productive.

This isnt between a full loaf and a half loaf. Its between a half loaf and a half loaf spiked with arsenic. The sad reality is that we are going to solve anything this year, but if we start organizing for single-payer now maybe in the near future we will have a better shot.